while this is really cool, I sort of hope fatty doesn't bring anything too identifiably "fat mike" to the record. I enjoy a lot about him and his music, but against me has a pretty defined dynamic that would seem to clash somewhat with what fatty has. that said, dude's a solid bass player and obviously knows how songs work, so this might be a really good thing. either way, stoked for this record

But why not just release the recording with the old members? I don't see how a recording with temporary members would be better than a recording with old members; either way, you're not recording the album with the people with whom you'll be touring for the rest of the band's run.

the pitch of your voice depends on how long your vocal chords are, longer = deeper voice. Hormones can't change that. The only way to truly alter your voice is throat surgery, which I believe she stated she wouldn't have. Some trans people get vocal coaching so they can make their voice match more closely their gender, but I believe Laura said she wouldn't do that either. Basically, she said she wouldn't change her voice at this stage.

this is a totally pointless comment to make, but personally, I always thought she sounded pretty feminine or soft spoken in her speech anyway. Not really the pitch of her voice (though it's really not as deep as you'd think from the records) and obviously not her singing voice so much, but in interviews and what have you, it was the way she spoke. I guess you might call it her speech mannerisms, like how her words flowed etc, seemed fairly womanly. I used to think it was a weird contrast, given how aggressive her singing is on earlier songs, but in hindsight, it could totally have been that she is, in fact, a woman that was influencing her speech. This feels like a dumber and dumber comment as i keep typing, but it's 2:30 am and i'm pretty drunk, so whatever.

Yeah, LJG made it clear in her many interviews about the transition that her voice was her career and livelihood, she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. She referenced having a family to care for. My understanding is this means she won't have her adam's apple shaved down, which would alter the pitch of her voice.

So you get to pick and choose to what extent you want to change? Kind of hard to respect someone who claims was supposed to be born a girl, but refuses to accept that her voice should be equally feminine as well (based on that premise).

So the lesson here kids is, be true to yourself. Unless of course it hinders you financially.

if you can get fatty to play on your record, why the fuck not?
also, if she doesn't play bass/hasn't really before, it can take a little while to get to a level proficient to record with after having play guitar.

it could also just be that the way you approach writing as a bassist and as a guitarist are completely different. i've played guitar for ... i guess 9 years now, and while if you showed me a bass i could technically play some basslines, i couldn't actually *write* like a bassist. the two are pretty different disciplines. you can get used to both of them but the transition isn't as straightforward as you might figure, not if you want to actually write anything interesting anyway.

that said, i don't know anything at all about AM!'s music as the few times i've tried to really give it a go i've always been a bit disappointed. so i don't even know if this is a whole new rewrite of the record or if i'm just talking out of my ass.